Geolocationing System and Method for Use of Same

ABSTRACT

A geolocationing system and method for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, such as a hospitality environment or educational environment, are presented. In one embodiment of the geolocationing system, an array of gateway devices is provided. Each gateway device includes a gateway device identification providing an accurately-known fixed location within the multi-space environment. Each gateway device includes a wireless transceiver that receives a beacon signal from a proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device. The gateway devices, in turn, send gateway signals to a server, which determines estimated location of the wireless-enabled personal locator device with transmitted signal strength modeling.

PRIORITY STATEMENT & CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/661,745 entitled “Geolocationing System and Method for Use of Same”,and filed on Oct. 23, 2019, in the names of Miller, et al., now U.S.Pat. No. 10,827,219 issued on Nov. 3, 2020; which claims priority fromU.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 62/751,017 entitled “GeolocationingSystem and Method for Use of Same”, and filed on Oct. 26, 2018, in thename of William C. Fang; all of which are hereby incorporated byreference, and entirety, for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates, in general, to geolocationing and, inparticular, to enhanced performance in systems and methods for providingawareness and safety in a multi-space or multi-room environment such asa hospitality environment, educational environment, or the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Without limiting the scope of the present invention, the background willbe described in relation to employee safety in hospitality environments,as an example. Employees face increased personal security risks at workin multi-room environments such as hospitality environments, whichinclude motels, hotels, and the like, for example. Such hospitalityindustry employees often work alone and range over large interior areasthat may be divided into many small, closed spaces. As a result oflimited existing security measures, there is a need for improved systemsand methods of providing awareness and safety in hospitalityenvironments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It would be advantageous to achieve systems and methods for providinggeolocationing in a multi-space or multi-room environment such as ahospitality environment, educational environment, or the like that wouldimprove upon existing limitations in functionality. It would bedesirable to enable an electrical engineering-based and softwaresolution that would provide enhanced awareness and safety in aneasy-to-use platform in the hospitality lodging industry or in anothermulti-space environment. To better address one or more of theseconcerns, a geolocationing system and method for use of the same aredisclosed.

In one embodiment of the geolocationing system, a vertical andhorizontal array of gateway devices is provided. Each gateway deviceincludes a gateway device identification providing an accurately-knownfixed location within the multi-space environment. Each gateway deviceincludes a wireless transceiver that receives a beacon signal from aproximate wireless-enabled personal locator device. The gateway devices,in turn, send gateway signals to a server, which determine estimatedlocation of the proximate wireless-enabled personal location device withtransmitted signal strength modeling and, in some embodiments, othertechniques such as trilateration and received signal strength modeling.These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from andelucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the features and advantages of thepresent invention, reference is now made to the detailed description ofthe invention along with the accompanying figures in which correspondingnumerals in the different figures refer to corresponding parts and inwhich:

FIG. 1A is a schematic building diagram depicting one embodiment of ageolocationing system for providing awareness in a multi-spaceenvironment illustrated as a hotel, according to the teachings presentedherein;

FIG. 1B is a schematic floor plan depicting a floor of the hotelpresented in FIG. 1A in further detail;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram depicting one embodiment of thegeolocationing system presented in FIGS. 1A and 1B providing enhancedawareness and safety functionality therewith according to the teachingspresented herein;

FIG. 3A is a front elevation view of one embodiment of a gateway devicedepicted in FIG. 1 in further detail;

FIG. 3B is a top plan view of the gateway device depicted in FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram depicting one embodiment of thegateway device presented in FIGS. 3A and 3B;

FIG. 5A is a wall-facing exterior elevation view of one embodiment ofthe set-top box depicted in FIG. 2 in further detail;

FIG. 5B is a display-facing exterior elevation view of the set-top boxdepicted in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5C is a front perspective view of a dongle depicted in FIG. 2 infurther detail;

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram depicting one embodiment of theset-top box presented in FIGS. 5A and 5B;

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram depicting one embodiment of theserver presented in FIG. 2;

FIG. 8A is a data processing diagram depicting one embodiment of thegeolocationing system according to the teachings presented herein;

FIG. 8B is a schematic diagram depicting one embodiment of thegeolocationing system presented in FIG. 8A;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram depicting another embodiment of ageolocationing system; and

FIG. 10 is a flow chart depicting one embodiment of a method forproviding a gateway device furnishing enhanced safety according to theteachings presented herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

While the making and using of various embodiments of the presentinvention are discussed in detail below, it should be appreciated thatthe present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts, whichcan be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specificembodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific ways tomake and use the invention, and do not delimit the scope of the presentinvention.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 2, therein is depicted ageolocationing system for providing awareness in a multi-spaceenvironment such as a hospitality environment, which may be as afurnished multi-family residence, dormitory, lodging establishment,hotel, hospital, which is schematically illustrated and designated 10.The multi-space environment may also be a multi-unit environment such asan educational environment like a school or college campus, for example.More generally, the geolocationing system 10 and the teachings presentedherein are applicable to any multi-space environment includinghospitality environments, educational campuses, hospital campuses,office buildings, multi-unit dwellings, sport facilities and shoppingmalls, for example.

As shown, by way of example and not by way of limitation, themulti-space environment is depicted as a hotel H having a lobby andfloors F, which are appropriately labeled the 2^(nd) floor through the10^(th) floor. Further, by way of example, the 4^(th) floor is depictedwith rooms 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415,416, and 417. Additionally, a common area near the elevators is labeledE, a hallway labeled P, and a stairwell is labeled S. The lobby, thecommon area E, the hallway P, and the stairwell S are furtherillustrations of spaces in the multi-space environment in addition tothe rooms.

Gateway devices 12 are deployed as part of a horizontal and verticalarray, which is generally a spatial array, throughout the hotel H. Itshould be appreciated, however, that the gateway devices 12 and moregenerally deployment of the system may include a horizontal array.Further, the deployment may be in a single story, multiple stories, or acombination thereof. As will be discussed in further detail hereinbelow,the gateway devices 12 may include set-top boxes 14, gateway servicedevices 16, or common space gateway devices 18.

Within the hospitality environment, individuals, such as I₁, I₂, I₃carry personal locator devices 20 which periodically, or on demand,transmit beacons that are received by a gateway device 12. The personallocator devices 20 may be a single button personal locator device 22 ora proximate wireless-enabled interactive programmable device 24, such asa smart watch, a smart phone, or a tablet computer, for example. In oneembodiment, the proximate wireless-enabled interactive programmabledevice 24 may be a wireless-enabled smart and interactive handhelddevice that may be supplied or carried by the user or guest. As shown,individual I₁ works in the hospitality industry in management and ispresently working on the 6^(th) floor. The individual I₁ has a personallocator device 20. Individual 12 works in the hospitality industry athotel H and is presently working on the 4^(th) floor. As the individual12 is working in room R (Room 404) near a space S, which is hallway P onthe 4^(th) floor, the personal locator device 20 is transmitting beaconsthat are received by gateway devices 12, such as the set-top box 14 thatis located within the room 404 and the gateway service device located inhallway P on the 4^(th) floor of the hotel H. Also, individual 13 is ahotel contractor walking on the 2^(nd) floor with, as mentioned, apersonal locator device 20 also.

As shown, the gateway device 12 in the room 404 is a set-top box 14,which may be connected to an electronic visual display device such as adisplay or television. The set-top box 14 includes a housing 30 and aconnection, which is depicted as an HDMI connection 32, connects theset-top box 14 to the display (not shown). Other connections include apower cable 34 coupling the set-top box 14 to a power source, a coaxialcable 36 coupling the set-top box 14 to an external cable source, and acategory five (Cat 5) cable 38 coupling the set-top box 14 to anexternal pay-per-view source, for example. As shown, the set-top box 14may include a dongle 40 providing particular technology andfunctionality extensions thereto. That is, the set-top box 14 may be aset-top box-dongle combination in one embodiment. More generally, itshould be appreciated that the cabling connected to the set-top box 14will depend on the environment and application, and the cablingconnections presented in FIG. 2 are depicted for illustrative purposes.Further, it should be appreciated that the positioning of the set-topbox 14 will vary depending on environment and application and, withcertain functionality, the set-top box 14 may be placed more discretelybehind the display or as an in-wall mount. At least one antennaassociated with the set-top box 14 provides for the wirelesscapabilities of the gateway device 12 and include, for example, wirelessstandards: Wi-Fi 42, Bluetooth 44, ZigBee 46, infrared (IR) 48.

As mentioned, the gateway device 12 in the hallway P of the 4^(th) flooris a gateway service device 16 having a housing 50 with physicalconnection ports 52, 54. A network cable 55, which is depicted as acategory five (Cat 5) cable 38, is secured to physical connection port52. In one embodiment, multiple antennas provide for the wirelesscapabilities of the gateway device 12 and include, for example, wirelessstandards: Wi-Fi 42, Bluetooth 44, ZigBee 46, and IR 48. More generally,it should be appreciated that the cabling connected to the gatewaydevice 12 and antenna configuration will depend on the environment andapplication and the cabling connections and wireless standards presentedin FIG. 2 are depicted for illustrative purposes. Although not shown inFIG. 2, the common space gateway device 18 may be similar in appearanceto the gateway service device 16.

As shown, each of the gateway devices 12, including the set-top box 14and the gateway service device 16 of FIG. 2, have a data link, which maybe a wired or wireless connection, to the server 56 which is providing ageolocation and safety network 58. Within the hospitality environment,the individuals I₁, I₂, I₃ carry personal locator devices 20 whichperiodically, or on demand, transmit beacons that are received by thegeolocation and safety network 58 via one or more of the gateway devices12. More particularly, as previously mentioned, in one implementation,an individual 12 has the personal locator device 20, which may transmita beacon from the personal locator device 20 using a wireless standardsuch as Wi-Fi 42 to the gateway devices 12. Each of the gateway devices12, including the set-top box 14 and the gateway service device 16, thenprocesses the received beacon signal and sends a gateway signal to theserver 56. More particularly, with respect to data flow 60, the personallocator device 20, which is the single button personal locator 22,transmits the beacon signals 62-1 through 62-n, collectively beaconsignals 62, which include a personal location device identification Bidentifying the personal locator device 20 and a transmitted signalstrength identification, such as T₁ . . . T_(n), which are collectivelymarked T. The beacon signal 62 is received by each of the gatewaydevices 12 which respectively transmit broadcast signals 64, 66including the personal location device identification B, the transmittedsignal strength identification T, a gateway device identification Gidentifying the gateway device 12, and a signal characteristic indicatorS, such as received signal strength, for example. In one implementation,as will be discussed in further detail hereinbelow, the personal locatordevice 20 transmits multiple broadcast signals each having a differenttransmission strength and the transmission strength being indicated bythe transmitted signal strength identification T. The server 56 receivesthe broadcast signals 64, 66 and uses the multiple broadcast signals,including the broadcast signals 64, 66, for locationing 68, fordetermining the estimated location 69 of the personal locator device 20of the individual 12. The server 56, in turn, sends out the appropriatenotifications to various phones, activates alarms, or notify others viaa computer, depending on the situation. As a spatial array of horizontaland vertical gateway devices 12 are provided, the server 56 andgeolocationing system 10 presented herein is able to determine thelocation of the individual associated with the personal locator device20 within a building. The estimated location 69 includes which floor theindividual is presently located as well as the room or common area orother spatial information.

Referring to FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 4, the gateway device 12 may bea set-top unit that is an information appliance device that does notinclude television-tuner functionality and generally containsconvenience and safety functionality. The gateway service device 16includes the housing 50 having a front wall 70, rear wall 72, side wall74, side wall 76, top wall 78, and bottom base 80. It should beappreciated that front wall, rear wall, and side wall are relative termsused for descriptive purposes and the orientation and the nomenclatureof the walls may vary depending on application. The front wall 70includes various ports, including the ports 52, 54 that provideinterfaces for various interfaces, including inputs 84 and outputs 86.In one implementation, as illustrated, the port 52 is an RJ45 port andport 54 is a USB2 port. It should be appreciated that the configurationof ports may vary with the gateway device depending on application andcontext.

Within the housing 50, a processor 88, memory 90, storage 92, the inputs84, and the outputs 86 are interconnected by a bus architecture 96within a mounting architecture. The processor 88 may processinstructions for execution within the computing device, includinginstructions stored in the memory 90 or in storage 92. The memory 90stores information within the computing device. In one implementation,the memory 90 is a volatile memory unit or units. In anotherimplementation, the memory 90 is a non-volatile memory unit or units.Storage 92 provides capacity that is capable of providing mass storagefor the gateway device 12. Various inputs 84 and outputs 86 provideconnections to and from the computing device, wherein the inputs 84 arethe signals or data received by the gateway device 12, and the outputs86 are the signals or data sent from the gateway device 12.

Multiple transceivers 94 are associated with the gateway device 12 andcommunicatively disposed with the bus 96. As shown the transceivers 94may be internal, external, or a combination thereof to the housing.Further, the transceivers 94 may be a transmitter/receiver, receiver, oran antenna for example. Communication between various amenities in thehotel room and the gateway device 12 may be enabled by a variety ofwireless methodologies employed by the transceiver 94, including 802.11,802.15, 802.15.4, 3G, 4G, Edge, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, near field communications(NFC), Bluetooth low energy and Bluetooth, for example. Also, infrared(IR) may be utilized.

The memory 90 and storage 92 are accessible to the processor 88 andinclude processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor 88 to execute a series of operations. With respect to theprocessor-executable instructions, the processor 88 is caused to receiveand process a beacon signal including a personal location deviceidentification and a transmitted signal strength identification. Moreparticularly, the processor-executable instructions cause the processor88 to receive a beacon signal via the wireless transceiver from apersonal locator device 20, such as a single button personal locator 22or a proximate wireless-enabled interactive programmable device 24. Theprocessor-executable instructions then cause the processor to measurereceived signal strength of the beacon signal. The instructions may thencause the processor 88 to generate a gateway signal including thepersonal location device identification, the transmitted signal strengthidentification, a gateway device identification, and signalcharacteristics indicator, including received signal strength. Finally,the instructions may cause the processor 88 to send the gateway signalto the server 56. The processor 88 may use a wired or wirelessconnection to send the gateway signal to the server 56.

Referring to FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C, and FIG. 6, as used herein,set-top boxes, back boxes and set-top/back boxes may be discussed asset-top boxes. By way of example, the gateway device 12 as the set-topbox 14 may be a set-top unit that is an information appliance devicethat generally contains set-top box functionality including having atelevision-tuner input and displays output through a connection to adisplay or television set and an external source of signal, turning byway of tuning the source signal into content in a form that can then bedisplayed on the television screen or other display device. Such set-topboxes are used in cable television, satellite television, andover-the-air television systems, for example.

The set-top box 14 includes the housing 30 having a rear wall 102, frontwall 104, top wall 106, bottom base 108, and two side walls 110, 112. Itshould be appreciated that front wall, rear wall, and side wall arerelative terms used for descriptive purposes and the orientation and thenomenclature of the walls may vary depending on application. The frontwall includes various ports, ports 114, 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126,128 and 130 that provide interfaces for various interfaces, includinginputs 132 and outputs 134. In one implementation, as illustrated, theports 114 through 130 include inputs 132 and outputs 134 and, moreparticularly, an RF input 136, a RJ-45 input 138, universal serial bus(USB) input/outputs 140, an Ethernet category 5 (Cat 5) coupling 142, aninternal reset 144, an RS232 control 146, an audio out 148, an audio in150, and a debug/maintenance port 152. The front wall 104 also includesvarious inputs 132 and outputs 134. More particularly, ports 160, 162,164, 166, 168 include a 5V dc power connection 170, USB inputs/outputs172, an RJ-45 coupling 174, an HDMI port 176 and an HDMI port 178. Itshould be appreciated that the configuration of ports may vary with theset-top box depending on application and context. As previously alludedto, the housing 30 may include a housing-dongle combination including,with respect to the dongle 40, a unit 180 having a cable 182 with aset-top box connector 184 for selectively coupling with the set-top box12.

Within the housing 30, a processor 200, memory 202, storage 204, theinputs 132, and the outputs 134 are interconnected by a bus architecture206 within a mounting architecture. It should be understood that theprocessor 200, the memory 202, the storage 204, the inputs 132, and theoutputs 134 may be entirely contained within the housing 30 or thehousing-dongle combination. The processor 200 may process instructionsfor execution within the computing device, including instructions storedin the memory 202 or in storage 204. The memory 202 stores informationwithin the computing device. In one implementation, the memory 202 is avolatile memory unit or units. In another implementation, the memory 202is a non-volatile memory unit or units. Storage 204 provides capacitythat is capable of providing mass storage for the set-top box 14.Various inputs 132 and outputs 134 provide connections to and from thecomputing device, wherein the inputs 132 are the signals or datareceived by the set-top box 14, and the outputs 134 are the signals ordata sent from the set-top box 14. A television content signal input 208and a television output 210 are also secured in the housing 30 in orderto receive content from a source and forward the content, includingexternal content such as cable and satellite and pay-per-view (PPV)programing, to the display.

A transceiver 212 is associated with the set-top box 14 andcommunicatively disposed with the bus 206. As shown the transceiver 212may be internal, external, or a combination thereof to the housing 100.Further, the transceiver 212 may be a transmitter/receiver, receiver, oran antenna for example. Communication between various devices and theset-top box 14 may be enabled by a variety of wireless methodologiesemployed by the transceiver 212, including 802.11, 3G, 4G, Edge, Wi-Fi,ZigBee, near field communications (NFC), Bluetooth low energy andBluetooth, for example. Also, infrared (IR) may be utilized.

One or more wireless communication antennas 214 are associated with theset-top box 12 and communicatively disposed with the bus 206. As shownthe wireless communication antennas 214 may be internal, external, or acombination thereof to the housing 30. Further, the wirelesscommunication antenna 214 may be a transmitter/receiver, receiver, or anantenna for example. Communication from the set-top box 14 to one ormore of the proximate wireless-enabled interactive programmable devices24 may be enabled by a variety of wireless methodologies employed by thewireless communication antennas 214, including 802.11, 3G, 4G, Edge,WiFi, ZigBee, near field communications (NFC), Bluetooth low energy andBluetooth, for example. Also, infrared (IR) may be utilized. In oneimplementation, the one or more wireless communication antennas 214utilize a network connection protocol such as Bluetooth and the one ormore wireless communication antennas 214 are Bluetooth transmitters.

The memory 202 and storage 204 are accessible to the processor 200 andinclude processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor 200 to execute a series of operations. With respect to theprocessor-executable instructions, the processor 200 is caused toreceive and process a beacon signal 62 including a personal locationdevice identification. More particularly, the processor-executableinstructions cause the processor 200 to receive a beacon signal 62 viathe wireless transceiver from a proximate wireless-enabled personallocator device 20. The processor-executable instructions then cause theprocessor 200 to measure received signal strength of the beacon signal.The instructions may then cause the processor 200 to generate a gatewaysignal including the personal location device identification B, thetransmitted signal strength identification T, a gateway deviceidentification G, and signal characteristics indicator S, includingreceived signal strength. Finally, the instructions may cause theprocessor 200 to send the gateway signal to the server 56 via a wired orwireless connection.

Referring now to FIG. 7, one embodiment of the server 56 as a computingdevice includes a processor 230, memory 232, storage 234, inputs 236,outputs 238, and a network adaptor 240 interconnected with various buses242 in a common or distributed, for example, mounting architecture. Inother implementations, in the computing device, multiple processorsand/or multiple buses may be used, as appropriate, along with multiplememories and types of memory. Further still, in other implementations,multiple computing devices may be provided and operations distributedtherebetween. The processor 230 may process instructions for executionwithin the server 56, including instructions stored in the memory 232 orin storage 234. The memory 232 stores information within the computingdevice. In one implementation, the memory 232 is a volatile memory unitor units. In another implementation, the memory 232 is a non-volatilememory unit or units. Storage 234 includes capacity that is capable ofproviding mass storage for the server 56. Various inputs 236 and outputs238 provide connections to and from the server 56, wherein the inputs236 are the signals or data received by the server 56, and the outputs238 are the signals or data sent from the server 56. The network adaptor240 couples the server 56 to a network such that the server 56 may bepart of a network of computers, a local area network (LAN), a wide areanetwork (WAN), an intranet, a network of networks, or the Internet, forexample.

The memory 232 and storage 234 are accessible to the processor 230 andinclude processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor 230 to execute a series of operations. In one embodiment offirst processor-executable instructions, the processor-executableinstructions cause the processor to receive multiple gateway signalsfrom multiple gateway devices of the vertical and horizontal array. Theprocessor 230 is caused to process the gateway signals withtrilateration, received signal strength modeling, and transmitted signalstrength modeling, and determine an estimated location of the proximatewireless-enabled personal locator device 20.

In a second embodiment of processor-executable instructions, a signalmap is stored in the storage 234. The signal map may be a signal modelthat includes received signal strength modeling and/or trilaterationmodeling. In one implementation, the signal map is prepared in anoffline phase before the geolocation and safety network 58 is placedonline. The processor-executable instructions cause the processor 230 toreceive respective gateway signals from multiple gateway devices of thevertical and horizontal array. The processor 230 is then caused toprocess the multiple gateway signals with trilateration by utilizing atleast three distances between at least three gateway signals fromrespective gateway devices to determine a point of intersectiontherebetween. The processor-executable instructions cause the processor230 to process the gateway signals with signal strength modeling byaccessing the signal map stored in the storage 234. The processor 230then compares multiple received signal strength measurements of arespective group of gateway signals to the signal map. The processor 230then compares multiple received signal strength measurements to therespected transmitted signal strength measurements for locationanalysis. The processor-executable instructions cause the processor 230to determine the estimated location of the proximate wireless-enabledpersonal location device.

In a third embodiment of processor-executable instructions, theprocessor-executable instructions cause the processor 230 to receivegateway signals from respective gateway devices of the vertical andhorizontal array. The processor executable instructions then cause theprocessor 230 to process the gateway signals with trilateration byutilizing at least three distances between at least three gatewaysignals from respective gateway devices to determine a point ofintersection therebetween. The processor 230 is caused to process theplurality of gateway signals with signal strength modeling by utilizingat least three received signal strength measurements between at leastthree gateway signals from respective gateway devices to determine apoint of intersection therebetween. The processor 230 is caused toprocess multiple gateway signals with transmitted signal strengthmodeling by assessing the transmitted signal strength identification andreceived signal strength identification for each of the plurality ofgateway signals. The process-executable instructions cause the processor230 to determine the estimated location of the proximatewireless-enabled personal locator device 20.

Referring now to FIGS. 8A and 8B, in one embodiment, a signal mapping250 occurs to build a signal strength model. Data collection 252 occurswhere various forms of signals are collected at the gateway devices 12and stored in a database 253 as a signal map 254 which may form aportion of the storage 234. Based on the received signal strengthreceived from multiple points at the gateway devices, an RSS_(MP) map256 is pattern mapped via pattern matching 258 to the signal map 254 toprovide an estimated location 69 of the personal locator device 20. Moreparticularly, multiple gateway signals, such as RSS₁ received at thegateway device GD₁, RSS₂ received at the gateway device GD₂, and RSS₃received at the gateway device GD₃, are processed with trilateration byutilizing at least three distances (e.g., d₁, d₂, d₃) between at leastthree gateway signals from respective gateway devices [GD₁, which is theset-top box 14, at accurately known fixed location (x₁, y₁ and z₁); GD₂,which is the gateway device 16, at accurately known fixed location (x₂,y₂, z₂); GD₃, which is the gateway service device 18, at accuratelyknown fixed location (x₃, y₃, z₃)] to determine a point of intersectiontherebetween, which is the estimated location L. The gateway signalsRSS₁, RSS₂, and RSS₃, for example, are processed to form the RSS_(MP)with signal strength modeling by accessing the signal map 254 stored inthe storage 234 and conducting the pattern matching 258. A comparison ofthe received signal strength measurements RSS₁, RSS₂, RSS₃ asrepresented by the RSS_(MP) to the signal map 254 to determine estimatedlocation 69 of the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device20. To improve the signal processing, the personal locator device 20transmits multiple signals T, including T₁, T₂, T₃, each of which has adifferent transmitted signal strength. A comparison of the receivedsignal strength measurements RSS₁, RSS₂, RSS₃ to the transmitted signalstrength T to determine signal strength loss and the strength of thetransmitted signals that reach the gateway devices 12 also determinesestimated location 69 of the proximate wireless-enabled personal locatordevice 20.

In another embodiment, in FIG. 9 multiple gateway signals, such as RSS₁received at the gateway device GD₁, RSS₂ received at the gateway deviceGD₂, and RSS₃ received at the gateway device GD₃, are processed withtrilateration by utilizing at least three distances (e.g., d₁, d₂, d₃)between at least three gateway signals from respective gateway devices[GD₁ at accurately known fixed location (x₁, y₁ and z₁); GD₂ ataccurately known fixed location (x₂, y₂, z₂); GD₃ at accurately knownfixed location (x₃, y₃, z₃)] to determine a point of intersectiontherebetween, which is the estimated location T based on trilaterationRSS_(T). The gateway signals RSS₁, RSS₂, and RSS₃, for example, areprocessed in this embodiment to determine direct measurement of thedistance between the gateway device and the estimated location usingreceived signal strength. To improve the signal processing, the personallocator device 20 transmits multiple signals T, including T₁, T₂, T₃,each of which has a different transmitted signal strength. A comparisonof the received signal strength measurements RSS₁, RSS₂, RSS₃ to thetransmitted signal strength T to determine signal strength loss and thestrength of the transmitted signals that reach the gateway devices 12also determines estimated location of the proximate wireless-enabledpersonal locator device 20. It should be appreciated that thetransmitted signal strength modeling techniques presented herein may beused with or without the trilateration and signal strength modelingtechniques.

FIG. 10 depicts one embodiment of a method for providing safety in ahospitality environment or other environment, according to the teachingspresented herein. At block 280, the array of gateway devices is deployedvertically and horizontally throughout the hospitality environment. Itshould be appreciated that, as previously discussed, the methodology maybe practiced with a horizontally deployed array of gateway devices aswell. At block 282, beacon signals are periodically transmitted frompersonal location devices and received by the gateway devices.

At block 284, the beacon signals are received and processed at thegateway device. The beacon signals may include a personal locationdevice identification and a transmitted signal strength identificationcorresponding to the device being employed by the user. In oneembodiment, signal strength between the beacon transmission of thepersonal location devices and set-top boxes or other gateway devices ismeasured. At block 286, gateway signals are sent from the gatewaydevices to a server that is part of the geolocation and safety network.The gateway signals may include the personal location deviceidentification, the transmitted signal strength identification, gatewaydevice identification, and signal characteristic indicators. At block288, the server receives and processes the gateway signals. At decisionblock 290, the server takes action based on the mode of operation. In afirst mode of operation at block 292, a service request is associatedwith the location of the user utilizing the location of the personallocation device such as the proximate wireless-enabled interactiveprogrammable device as a proxy. In a second mode of operation at block294, an emergency alert is sent and subsequent notification (block 296)occurs. The emergency alert includes an indication of distress and thelocation of the user utilizing the location of the wireless-enabledinteractive programmable device as a proxy. In a third mode of operationat block 298, the map of individuals is updated with the location of theuser with, if privacy settings being enabled, the system maintains theprivacy of the individual working in the hospitality environment suchthat the system only retains in memory the last known position and timeof the user-supplied wireless-enabled smart and interactive handhelddevice. Further, in this mode of operation, the system does not revealthe location of the individual and programmable device unless and untilan alert is issued.

The order of execution or performance of the methods and data flowsillustrated and described herein is not essential, unless otherwisespecified. That is, elements of the methods and data flows may beperformed in any order, unless otherwise specified, and that the methodsmay include more or less elements than those disclosed herein. Forexample, it is contemplated that executing or performing a particularelement before, contemporaneously with, or after another element are allpossible sequences of execution.

While this invention has been described with reference to illustrativeembodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in alimiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of theillustrative embodiments as well as other embodiments of the invention,will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to thedescription. It is, therefore, intended that the appended claimsencompass any such modifications or embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, the system comprising: an array of gateway devices, each gateway device being positioned within a space in the multi-space environment, each gateway device having a gateway device identification providing an accurately-known fixed location; each gateway device of the array including: a housing, a wireless transceiver associated with the housing, a processor located within the housing and coupled to the wireless transceiver, a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive a beacon signal via the wireless transceiver from a proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device, the beacon signal including a personal locator device identification and transmitted signal strength identification, measure received signal strength of the beacon signal, transmit a gateway signal to a server, the gateway signal including the personal locator device identification, the gateway device identification, the transmitted signal strength identification, and received signal strength measurement; and the server located within the multi-space environment and in communication with the array of gateway devices, the server including: a processor, and a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive a plurality of gateway signals from a plurality of gateway devices of the array, process the plurality of gateway signals with trilateration, received signal strength modeling, and transmitted signal strength modeling, and determine estimated location of the proximate wireless-enabled personal location device.
 2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to communicate with a standard selected from the group consisting of infrared (IR), 802.11, 3G, 4G, Edge, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, near field communications (NFC), Bluetooth and Bluetooth low energy.
 3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway device further comprises a plurality of wireless transceivers.
 4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the trilateration and the received signal strength modeling are at least partially integrated.
 5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the trilateration and the transmitted signal strength modeling are at least partially integrated.
 6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the received signal strength modeling and the transmitted signal strength modeling are at least partially integrated.
 7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway device further comprises device selected from the group consisting of set-top boxes, common space gateway devices, and gateway service devices.
 8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device further comprises a device selected from the group consisting of single button personal locator devices and proximate wireless-enabled interactive programmable devices.
 9. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the proximate wireless-enabled interactive programmable device further comprises a device selected from the group consisting of smart watches, smart phones, and tablet computers.
 10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the server further comprises a back-office hotel server in communication with the array of set-top boxes.
 11. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to receive a plurality of gateway signals from a plurality of gateway devices of the array further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed cause the processor to: receive a plurality of beacon signals via the wireless transceiver from the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device, each of plurality of beacon signals including a personal locator device identification and transmitted signal strength identification.
 12. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to process the plurality of gateway signals with trilateration, signal strength modeling, and transmitted signal strength modeling further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed cause the processor to: utilize at least three distances between at least three gateway signals from respective gateway devices to determine a point of intersection therebetween.
 13. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to process the plurality of gateway signals with trilateration, signal strength modeling, and transmitted signal strength modeling further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed cause the processor to: access a signal map stored in the storage, the signal map being a received signal strength model of collected offline signals at the array of gateway devices, and compare a plurality of received signal strength measurements of a respective plurality of gateway signals to the signal map.
 14. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to process the plurality of gateway signals with trilateration, signal strength modeling, and transmitted signal strength modeling further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed cause the processor to: utilize at least three received signal strength measurements between at least three gateway signals from respective gateway devices to determine a point of intersection therebetween.
 15. The system as recited claim 1, wherein the system further comprises an operational mode selected from the group consisting of alerts-enabled, service request-enabled, tracking-enabled, and non-tracking-enabled.
 16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein in the alerts-enabled mode, the server receives a distress signal from the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.
 17. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein in the service-request-enabled mode, the server receives a service request from the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.
 18. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein in the tracking-enabled mode, the server maintains in memory one of a plurality of estimated locations with timestamps associated with the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device and only the last known locations with timestamps associated with the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.
 19. A system for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, the system comprising: an array of gateway devices, each gateway device being positioned within a space in the multi-space environment, each gateway device having a gateway device identification providing an accurately-known fixed location; each gateway device of the array including: a housing, a wireless transceiver associated with the housing, a processor located within the housing and coupled to the wireless transceiver, a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive a beacon signal via the wireless transceiver from a proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device, the beacon signal including a personal locator device identification and transmitted signal strength identification, measure received signal strength of the beacon signal, transmit a gateway signal to a server, the gateway signal including the personal locator device identification, the gateway device identification, and received signal strength measurement; and the server located within the multi-space environment and in communication with the array of gateway devices, the server including: a processor, a signal map stored in the storage, the signal map being a received signal strength model of collected offline signals at the array of gateway devices, and a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive a plurality of gateway signals from a plurality of gateway devices of the array, process the plurality of gateway signals with trilateration by utilizing at least three distances between at least three gateway signals from respective gateway devices to determine a point of intersection therebetween, process the plurality of gateway signals with transmitted signal strength modeling by assessing the transmitted signal strength identification and received signal strength identification for each of the plurality of gateway signals, process the plurality of gateway signals with signal strength modeling by accessing the signal map stored in the storage, compare a plurality of received signal strength measurements of a respective plurality of gateway signals to the signal map, and determine estimated location of the proximate wireless-enabled personal location device.
 20. A system for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, the system comprising: an array of gateway devices, each gateway device being positioned within a space in the multi-space environment, each gateway device having a gateway device identification providing an accurately-known fixed location; each gateway device of the array including: a housing, a wireless transceiver associated with the housing, a processor located within the housing and coupled to the wireless transceiver, a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive a beacon signal via the wireless transceiver from a proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device, the beacon signal including a personal locator device identification and transmitted signal strength identification, measure received signal strength of the beacon signal, transmit a gateway signal to a server, the gateway signal including the personal locator device identification, the gateway device identification, the transmitted signal strength identification, and received signal strength measurement; and the server located within the multi-space environment and in communication with the array of gateway devices, the server including: a processor, and a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive a plurality of gateway signals from a plurality of gateway devices of the array, process the plurality of gateway signals with trilateration by utilizing at least three distances between at least three gateway signals from respective gateway devices to determine a point of intersection therebetween, process the plurality of gateway signals with transmitted signal strength modeling by assessing the transmitted signal strength identification and received signal strength identification for each of the plurality of gateway signals, process the plurality of gateway signals with signal strength modeling by utilizing at least three received signal strength measurements between at least three gateway signals from respective gateway devices to determine a point of intersection therebetween, and determine estimated location of the proximate wireless-enabled personal location device. 